Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Per usual, another food entry. On the Thursday night when Gentry visited, our friends Azami and Tetsu took us out to yet another amazing place, the name, as usual, I forget. Really tiny, the entire restaurant consists of a bar and a table for about six people. The bar is definitely the place to sit, as you can see by the first picture. All of the fish was laid out for our choosing, cooked, or not cooked, to order. Loved the place, we ended up going back when my parents visited last week.

After Gentry and I filled ourselves to the brim with fish (I'm assuming Gentry was filled, he got there with Tetsu and Azami a hour and a half before I could make it), we headed to another cool find of Tetsu's. From the outside, it looks like a storage area, something you would pass by without a second glance. On the inside, however, is a quaint little wine bar. I'm not much of a wine person, but luckily the master had a bottle of some really tasty Grappa. We spent a few hours there, and retired for the night. The last picture should explain it all!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Stopped by Takashimaya before we headed back home after seeing Dogo. As luck would have it, a regional market was open on on of the higher floors. Apparently it was supposed to be like the fish markets in Hokaido. Let me tell you, the smells coming from some of these booths were absolutely incredible, both in their savoriness and in their ability to completely overpower the nose. I could have spent a lot of money their, but a lot of what was being sold involved bento boxes, and we had our meals planned out for the rest of the week. Oh well. One thing in particular caught my eye. One of the booths was dealing in fish eggs, and they had one of the biggest piles of salmon roe I have ever seen, so I managed to get a picture. Doesn't it just make you want to grab a handful and pop them in your mouth? And I mean pop them, since that's what they do when you eat them. Mmm, makes me hungry just looking at the picture again.

The next day, Lisa and I took Patrick to visit Dogo Onsen. Rumor had it that there was beer to be had that was brewed from the same hot spring water they use to fill the baths. Forget the history about the place, we were just interested in a good micro brew! After walking through the shopping street, and seeing that ridiculously scary mannequin I posted about earlier, we refreshed ourselves with some Japanese gelato. I guess it's really Italian, but there was a green tea flavor, so I'm calling it Japanese. Then we tried to wander over to the brewery. Problem was the brewery was closed, but being the resourceful people that we are, we found a bar right next to the onsen that specialized in tasting the Dogo beer. There are three types, one pale ale, one red ale, and one stout. I was more concerned about trying the different varieties, so I forgot to take a picture. I did, however, manage to snap a shot of the lovely little appetizer we had, a deep fried clove of elephant garlic, called, "Fried a garlic." I'm not kidding, see the picture. Very tasty. Another good trip to Dogo. I like the onsen, but I'll admit that the surrounding area is way too touristy for my taste. Maybe I just don't like that mannequin.

Random post, but this is quite possibly one of the scariest things I've ever seen. It's a mannequin in the Dogo shopping street. It reminds me of some horror movie, can't remember which one, but I'm fairly certain someone gets eaten in it. I love Japan, but sometimes the stuff they make worries me a little bit. It looks like it's either really really happy, or about to eat brains. One or the other.

Ok, now that everyone has come and gone, my internet is fixed, and I have a little time, I can start posting again, woohoo!

It's been a while, but I guess I'll just start where I left off about three weeks ago, and fill in everything that's happened since then. To start with, I had my buddy Gentry come visit starting on Halloween. Didn't do much that day, since he was still gorked out from his flights, but the next day, oh did we eat. My friends Tetsu and Azami took us to a little izakaya, and as usual, I can't remember it's name. Great food, as usual. We started off with squid that was so fresh, it was still moving on the plate. I'm not kidding, I'll post the video.

Tasty tasty stuff. Perhaps the best part of the menu for that night though was the whale. Yes, I said it, whale. Sorry Dorfman, sorry Greenpeace, but it was delicious. I definitely took a picture of it, it's the last one in this post. Considering how much most the average America eats, it's probably a good thing that we don't think eating whale is a good thing, otherwise we'd really make them endangered. Oh well, bottoms up!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Sorry to all my readers, my internet has been quite terrible the last few weeks, and my buddy is staying with me, so I haven't gotten a chance to post much. I promise I'll fill it all in with tons of stuff this weekend, once I get my internet back up and running in good order, and some good pictures to augment everything. See you in a few more days!